Daily Digest 3/1 - The Scandal in America, Natural Gas Set New Records In 2013, London Gold Fix Scandal

Economy

One of the great marvels of the time is how effectively well-funded propaganda campaigns and a captive mainstream media have distorted the peoples' view of reality so that they act as if they are sleep-walking.

An ongoing trend in the US has been a tax code that favors large multinational corporations with loopholes and subsidies that far too often result in an effective tax rate of close to zero, despite booming corporate profits in the face of a long stagnation in median family income and wages.

If the most disturbing, if underreported, news from yesterday, was Obama's "modification" of NSA capabilities, which contrary to his earlier promises, was just granted even greater powers as phone recording will now be stored for even longer than previously, then this latest development from the Supreme Court - one which some could argue just voided the Fourth amendment - is even more shocking. RT reports that the US Supreme Court has ruled that police may search a home without obtaining a warrant despite the objection of one occupant if that occupant has been removed from the premises. With its 6 to 3 decision in Fernandez v. California on Tuesday, the Court sided with law enforcement’s ability to conduct warrantless searches after restricting police powers with its 2006 decision on a similar case.

The London gold fix, the benchmark used by miners, jewellers and central banks to value the metal, may have been manipulated for a decade by the banks setting it, researchers say.

Unusual trading patterns around 3 p.m. in London, when the so-called afternoon fix is set on a private conference call between five of the biggest gold dealers, are a sign of collusive behavior and should be investigated, New York University’s Stern School of Business Professor Rosa Abrantes-Metz and Albert Metz, a managing director at Moody’s Investors Service, wrote in a draft research paper.

The big concern heading into this week was the weakness in financials and the consumer discretionary sectors as they make up 30% of the S&P 1500’s market cap. This week the consumer discretionary sector did improve by rallying 2.43%, but the financial sector has yet to wake up. We may need a steeper yield curve for that to occur.

While we have advance-decline lines and the major indexes at all-time highs, selectivity is clearly building in the markets as fewer stocks are hitting new highs, which poses the risk of a bigger decline down the road.

There was more shuffling around of bullion between the warehouses, but nothing particularly meaningful happened yesterday. Or today for that matter. We are in a phony market, a seeming impasse between the bulls and the bears. But this in only in the market that we can see, or rather, are allowed to see.

When will this end? I think Tolstoy said it this way. "Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not
gold."

With so much chaos taking place around the world, today King World News spoke to the man who has been focused on uncovering sensitive government and market information for over 15 years. What he had to say will shock KWN readers around the world. Chris Powell covered everything from a shocking scandal involving Western central planners to criminal banking syndicates, and the trip down the rabbit hole involves the U.S. Fed, European central banks, and a criminal syndicate of banks operating on their behalf. Below is what Powell had to say in this remarkable and stunning interview.

Energy

Residents in Shelburne and Montague have been contacted by representatives from the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. with plans for a proposed 250-mile project in Massachusetts.

While there is no application with detailed maps that have been filed with state environmental regulators, according to Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs spokeswoman Krista Selmi, similar letters have been received by planners and selectmen in Orange, Erving, Montague and Deerfield.

The heavily-hyped golden age of natural gas appears to have begun in earnest – at least in the United States – last year, according to new data released today by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Not only can GHPs cut energy costs for heating and cooling by up to 80%, they can also provide other benefits such as essentially free hot water when in cooling mode, lower reliance on fossil fuels, and the elimination of above ground outdoor equipment. These advantages have earned GHPs a small but dedicated cult of true believers, but not broad market acceptance.

Gold & Silver

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As we approach the fourth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Oil Disaster, perhaps it is a good time to remember the great success it represents, the success in shifting the thoughts of attention deficient Americans from the things that really matter, like honest and accountable government.

Is anything really different, or have we just been prompted to move on and think about something else? Will the US be better prepared to deal with the next financial or environmental crisis?

Are portions of the US any different from other third world countries that are sacked of their resources, their people impoverished, their quality of life ruined, and their children left with little or no hope for the future?

Zimbabwe is being taken over by the Chinese. They are building a military air base there.

Well done all you hippy dippy, touchy-feely baby boomer Morons in the West. Africa was yours but now it is not. There will be consequences to losing one fifth of the world's land.

Oh I haven't forgotten you too-clever-by-half divide and conquer economic strategists. Hows your kniving plan turning out? Have you got the platinum yet? I pray that you will have a long life so that you can contemplate your utter failure in the dark hours of the night.